by Rebecca Walker — May 13, 2009—Desso, an international carpet company with factories in Holland and Belgium, has adopted Cradle to Cradle (C2C) manufacturing policies, meaning its products will end their usable life by being either completely biodegraded or recycled.
The company also launched its second carpet tile with a Cradle to Cradle certificate, the Torso carpet tile. Desso aims to have a complete Cradle to Cradle product line by 2020.
The company has outlined its initiative in The Green Book , which is printed with water and soya-based ink. The book is the same size as Desso’s sample carpet tiles, which have been reduced to a quarter of their previous size in order to save raw materials, packaging and transport emissions.
Symbolising Desso’s core corporate principle of sustainability, the Green Book can be taken apart and planted, creating a carpet of wild flowers in a matter of weeks.
The new environmental philosophy that Desso has adopted was first advanced in 2002 by the German chemist Michael Braungart and an American architect William McDonough in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Its central premise is that products should be conceived from the start with intelligent design and the intention that they would eventually be recycled.
For more information on Desso and its green initiatives, see its Web site.
